Originally Posted by Char Baby
Originally Posted by Char Baby
They work hank-in-hand. If you raise one, you raise the other and visa-versa.
What I mean is; a stronger concentration of coolant/antifreeze benefits both the cooling ability as well as the overheating ability. A weaker concentration lessens both as well.
That's why a 50/50 mix of coolant and distilled water is a good starting place. If you live where the outside temperatures are at the extremes then you may want to move to a 60 coolant/40 water mix. This will aid in both cooling & overheating. I have heard of people going to a 70/30 mix in e.g., Death Valley, CA or The Twin Cities, MN
Actually plain water is the best coolant, antifreeze decreases its heat transfer ability. From a cooling standpoint, the only benefit to using a coolant mix instead of water is a higher boiling point. However, in a modern car with a pressurized system, this isn't as critical as it used to be back in the days of unpressurized cooling systems. For example, I have a 19 PSI radiator cap, which raises the boiling point of plain water to about 258 degrees. Adding 50% coolant would increase the boiling point by about 15 degrees to around 273 degrees. However, the reality is the coolant should never get anywhere near either of those temps. And if it does get that hot and the driver doesn't take action, they are taking a serious risk of destroying the engine regardless of what the cooling system is filled with. Despite what Evans waterless coolant says, just because the coolant can handle the heat without boiling doesn't mean that the engine can.